Systems and methods for providing a trading interface

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for configurable trading interfaces that allow a trader to quickly and easily submit trading commands to a trading system are provided. Using these systems and methods, a trader can using various trading interfaces to initiate trading commands, configure various display features and default command settings, and control a level of command entry verification that is provided to protect against inadvertent entry of incorrect trading commands.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/171,442, filed Dec. 22, 1999, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to systems and methods for providing a tradinginterface. More particularly, this invention provides a tradinginterface that allows a trader to use a pointing device such as a mouseto execute a trade quickly and accurately.

As electronic trading becomes more popular, an increasing number oftraders are in need of new systems and methods to enter trade commandsin a quick, efficient, and accurate manner. In one method of electronictrading, bids and offers are submitted by traders to a trading system,those bids and offers are then displayed by the trading system to othertraders, and the other traders may then respond to the bids and offersby submitting sell (or hit) or buy (or lift or take) commands to thesystem.

Many implementations of this method of electronic trading, whilegenerally accurate, lack in desired speed mainly because traders areforced to use both a standard PC keyboard and a mouse to execute atrade. This dual process causes much delay for traders because thetraders must follow several steps prior to accomplishing a trade. Forexample, many traders using typical trading systems are required to (1)click on an issue of choice, (2) click on a buy or sell button, and (3)use the keyboard to enter a price and size for the trade.

The benefit of using a keyboard to execute a trade is that a trader mayexecute a trade with a great deal more speed than with a mouse.Specifically, with a keyboard, the trader may use all ten fingers, whilewith a mouse the trader may use two fingers at most.

Despite the drawbacks associated with using a mouse, many traderscontinue to use a mouse because it is considered easy to use, and thustraders feel that they are less likely to make unwarranted tradingmistakes with a mouse. Because trading professionals frequently havelarge amounts of money at stake when trading, many professionals preferto forgo speed and efficiency for peace of mind.

While mouse-based interfaces have existed for years, these interfaceshave put traders using them at a disadvantage when competing withfull-time keyboard traders. One reason the existing mouse-basedinterfaces place those traders at a disadvantage is that those tradersare forced to physically move a mouse pointer from an indicator for adesired instrument, that is at some given point on a trading screen, tosome other point on the screen where bidding/offering and buying/sellingcommands can be entered. This approach is very time consuming.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide systems and methodsthat enable a trader to execute trades quickly, efficiently, andaccurately using a pointing device interface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this and other objects of the invention, systems andmethods provide configurable trading interfaces that allow a trader toquickly and easily submit trading commands to a trading system. Moreparticularly, in accordance with this invention, the trader can usevarious trading interfaces to initiate trading commands, configurevarious display features and default command settings, and control alevel of command entry verification that is provided to protect againstinadvertent entry of incorrect trading commands.

In order to initiate a trading command using the present invention, atrader may enter the command using a command-line interface, click on acomponent of a bid and offer in a market cell, enter the command using agraphical interface, or may click on a piece of data in a data window.After initiating a command from a command-line interface, a market cell,or a data window, the present invention may verify the entry bypresenting a graphical interface. This interface may be the samegraphical interface that may be used to enter a trading command. Inaddition to displaying the graphical interface, a mouse pointer may beredirected to a portion of the graphical interface to speed up entry ofthe trading command. After initiating the command, but before completingthe command, a trader may then alter the parameters of the commandeither to complete entry of the parameters or to correct one or moreincorrect entries.

To enable customization of the graphical interface to a trader'spreferences, settings controls are provided. These controls may enablethe trader to set a preferred order type, cause the graphical interfaceto automatically close after a trade command has been entered orcanceled, display a history of trade commands, set the trade item type,set how bid and offer information is displayed, set how default prices,sizes, and limits, and set position and color preferences.

As will be apparent upon reading the Detailed Description of thePreferred Embodiments, various features of the present invention may beimplemented with any type of trading system for the trading of any typeof item. For example, as illustrated herein, the invention may be usedwith a bid/offer, buy/sell trading system for trading of financialinstruments, such a bonds. Likewise, as another example, the inventionmay be used with a matching system, wherein bids and offers aresubmitted by various traders and matched, for the trading of otheritems, such a materials and supplies for manufacturing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a market cell that may be generated inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a dialog window that may be generated inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are illustrations of system settings windows that may begenerated in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a display settings window that may begenerated in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a main process that may be used to performthe functions illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 in accordance with certainembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a settings process that may be used toconfigure settings illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 in accordance with certainembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an entry window that may be used to selectitems to be traded using the dialog window of FIG. 2 in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an entry window process that may be used tointerface the entry window of FIG. 8 with the dialog window of FIG. 2 inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system that may be used to implement theprocesses and functions illustrated in FIGS. 1-9 in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning to FIGS. 1-4, examples of screen displays that may be presentedin certain embodiments of the present invention are illustrated. FIG. 1shows a market cell 100 that may be used to display one or more bidand/or one or more offer 101 for an item to be traded. As illustrated,bid and offer 101 indicates a price 102 which a buyer is willing to payfor a selected item 103 at a given size 106 (i.e., a number of the item)and a price 104 which a seller is willing to accept for selected item103 at a given size 108.

Each component of a market shown in market cell 100 may be marked with acolor, or in any other suitable manner, to indicate features of thatcomponent. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the entire area of fields102, 103, 104, 106, and 108 may be colored, or only the symbols in thosefields may be colored, to assign a meaning to each field. As a furtherexample, a specific color may be assigned to field 102 to indicate thata price in the field is a bid price. Preferably, a trader is able tospecify the color assigned to each component of a trade. The fields, orsymbols contained therein, may be continuously colored or may be shownin a chosen color when a mouse pointer is passed over each field or usedto click on each field.

In order to bid for, offer to sell, buy, and/or sell an item throughmarket cell 100, a trader may submit a trading command indicating theaction to be taken using various approaches. For example, in preferredembodiments, a trader may submit the trading command using acommand-line interface, by clicking on components of bid and offer 101,and/or using a graphical interface.

When using a command-line interface, a trading command may be entered inany non-graphical interface desired. For example, a trader may submit atrading command by pressing buttons on a keyboard. Likewise, a tradercould use a voice recognition system to enter commands verbally, or atrader could use some combination of voice recognition, keyboard, andpointing device.

A trader may also indicate a desire to bid, offer, buy, and/or sell anitem by clicking on different portions of a bid and offer 101 for thatitem in market cell 100. For example, if the trader clicks on bid price102, the trader may indicate to submit a bid for the item. If the traderclicks on offer price 104, the trader may indicate to submit an offerfor the item. If the trader clicks on bid size 106, the trader maysubmit a command to sell the item. And, if the trader clicks on offersize 108, the trader may submit a command to buy the item.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention may allow a trader to usedifferent levels of mouse button entries to initiate a trading command.That is, for flexibility, this invention may allow a trader to determinehow many clicks on components of bid or offer 101 using a button of amouse are required before the trader either bids for, offers to sell,buys, and/or sells an item corresponding to the market cell. Forexample, for maximum speed and slightly more risk, the trader may choosethat a market be acted upon after a single click on a component of bidor offer 101. Likewise, a trader may choose to use a double click on amarket before it is acted upon.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a graphical interface forsubmitting trading commands. As shown, the graphical interface comprisesa dialog window 200 with various buttons and entry fields 202-242. Usingthese buttons and entry fields, a trader may submit a bid command, anoffer command, a buy command, or a sell command for an itemcorresponding to a market cell 100. Preferably, each traded item uses aunique dialog window 200. Dialog window 200 may be opened automaticallyand/or manually before, during, and/or after a trade, and may allow atrader to submit a trade command at any time. The dialog window may berepositioned on a trader's display and/or fixed in place. The trader,preferably, will keep the window associated with a particular instrumentbelow the market cell 100 for the same tradable item. The number ofdialog windows 200 that can be kept open at any one time is preferablyunlimited.

As shown in FIG. 2, dialog window 200 may comprise a variety ofon-screen buttons and entry fields. Generally, a button, as displayed inbox 200, may be “pushed” by placing a pointing device's pointer over thebutton and pressing a switch on the pointing device, as is commonlyknown in the art. At the center of window 200, a numeric keypad 202 maybe displayed. The numeric keypad 202 may provide buttons for numberszero through nine, and may contain buttons for numbers ten, twenty-five,fifty, and one hundred or any other suitable or desirable values. Thenumeric keypad 202 may also contain a plus button (“+”), a minus button(“−”), a decimal point button (“.”), a backspace button (“BKS”), and adelete button (“DEL”).

In addition to displaying a numeric keypad as described above, dialogwindow 200 may also provide a user with a buy button 204, a sell button206, a cancel buys button 208, a cancel sells button 210, a bid button212, an offer button 214, a cancel bids button 216, a cancel offersbutton 218, cancel all buttons 220, cancel all for all instrumentsbutton 222, a price entry field 224, price up and down buttons 226, bidprice up and down buttons 228, offer price up and down buttons 234, asize entry field 230, and size up and down buttons 232. Finally, dialogwindow 200 may contain a preference field 236 that allows a user tospecify preferred types of orders, a close-on-action box 238 that causesdialog window 200 to be automatically closed after specified actions areperformed, a configure keypad button 240 that allows a user to arrangethe keypad for dialog window 200, a close button 242 that closes thedialog window 200 on demand, a settings button 241, and a displayhistory button 243 that causes a history list of order entries to bedisplay when pressed.

Preference field 236 may be used to indicate the user's preferred tradetype and may allow the user to select any type of trade that aparticular exchange or trading system supports. Although FIG. 2 providesspecific examples of trade types (e.g., good-till-canceled (GTC), limit,all-or-none (AON), stop, and market-if-touched (MIT)), the invention maybe implemented with any type of trade.

Configure keypad button 240 may allow a trader to arrange buttonsappearing in dialog window 200 to be anywhere a trader prefers by firstpressing the configure keypad button 240, by then dragging the buttonsto new positions, and finally by clicking on button 240 again. Also, theconfiguration or re-configuration of buttons can change the function ofthose buttons depending on the type of trading desired or what type ofitem is being traded.

Although any of the approaches described herein to submitting a tradingcommand may be used independently of the others, two or more approachesmay also be used in conjunction. For example, when using a command-lineinterface, an entry verification feature of the present invention maydisplay a graphical interface to confirm a trader's intentions after acommand-line trade command has been entered. Similarly, as anotherexample, after clicking on a component of a bid and offer 101 in amarket cell 100, an entry verification feature of the present inventionmay display a graphical interface to a trader to allow the trader toalter and/or confirm the command being submitted.

To speed entry of a trading command when using various approaches tosubmit a trading command in conjunction, the present inventionpreferably includes a pointer warping feature that redirects the focusof the pointing device pointer to another location of the trader'sdisplay. In accordance with this feature, for example, when a traderclicks on a bid price 102 ($100.21 as depicted in FIG. 1) in a marketcell 100, a dialog window 100 may pop-up (if not already open), and apointer that is being used, by the trader may be immediately redirectedto a bid button 212 to save the trader the time of repositioning thepointer to that location. Once in the new location, the trader may thenuse the pointer to confirm and/or modify the trade command and thensubmit the trade command using bid button 212. Although this feature ofthe present invention is described in connection with a pointing devicepointer, this feature may be implemented using any suitable graphicalinterface pointer, cursor, or similar object.

Assume instead that, in the previous example, the trader wants toincrease bid price 102 to $100.22. When the appropriate trade submissionapproaches are used in conjunction, the trader may click anywhere on thedisplayed bid and offer 101, and thereby cause dialog window 200 toappear. At this point, the trader may press bid button 212 once andthereby cause bid price 102 ($100.21 as illustrated in FIG. 1) to appearin price entry field 224. To increase bid price 102 from $100.21 to$100.22, the trader may then press price up button 226, or press bidprice up button 228. When dealing with an offer, the trader may pressoffer price up button 226 or press price up button 234. Because time istypically of the essence, the trader will preferably use bid price upbutton 228 or offer price up button 234 because it is closer to bidbutton 212. Finally, to submit the bid, the trader may click on bidbutton 212 again to submit the bid. Alternatively, if the trader didn'twant to alter the price, the trader could have double clickedimmediately on bid button 212.

After any trade command is entered by pressing bid button 212, offerbutton 214, buy button 204, or sell button 206, the mouse pointer maythen be maintained in its position above the just-pushed button in casethe trader wants to repeat entry of the same trade command shortlythereafter.

As indicated above, a trader may never need to type a full price infield 102. Instead, a trader may configure the dialog window toautomatically post in price entry field 224 either the current bid oroffer price or a pre-programmed-increment-better bid or offer price of abid or offer that the trader clicks on. Alternatively, a trader maypoint to each individual number or quantity (i.e., 0-9, 10, 25, 50, or100) in keypad 202 and, in effect, input the desired price (or size)using a mouse.

In order to enter a size for a bid, offer, buy, or sell command, atrader may either choose to use a pre-programmed default size or adjustthe size of a trade in size entry field 230. When the trader is eitherbidding or offering, size entry field 230 preferably will initiallyalways show a pre-set size amount as configured by the trader. Toincrease or decrease the size, the trader may either push the size up orsize down buttons 232, or delete the size and enter a new size using thekeypad 202.

Preferably, by default, size entry field 230 is filled with a selectedbid or offer's size and highlighted when dialog window 200 is opened inresponse to a trader clicking on the selected bid or offer size. Byhighlighting the size entry field 230, a trader may change the size bysimply pushing any of the buttons on keypad 202 without firsthighlighting and/or deleting numbers in that field. Once a desired sizeis entered, a trader may then push sell button 206 or buy button 204 andsubmit an order to sell or buy the size appearing in size entry field224.

Another way for a trader to bid is to choose an instrument and a sizeand then press bid button 212 without designating a price. By entering abid in this manner, the trader simply joins the best bid that appears onthe trader's screen for that instrument. Although this approach toentering a bid is extremely easy and fast, a trader is risking that inthe moment just prior to pressing bid button 212, the bid priceappearing on the screen may change and thus force a trader to use thenew price. Should this occur, a trader may press the cancel bids button216 and re-enter a desired bid using the method described above.

As mentioned above, an entry verification feature of the presentinvention may be used in conjunction with a command-line interface or aclick on bid or offer interface to cause a graphical interface to bepresented after a trader submits a command-line trade command or aclicks on a component of a bid or offer. For example, if using acommand-line interface, a trader submits a command to bid at a certainprice for a certain size, a dialog window 200 may automatically appear(if not already shown), price and size fields 224 and 230 may bepopulated with the certain price and the certain size, and the pointermay be warped to just above bid button 212. The trader can then pressbid button 212 to confirm the command or alter the price and/or size asdescribed above.

Although the illustrations above are discussed in connection withbidding for and buying of an item, it should be obvious to those ofordinary skill in the art that the same features of the presentinvention are available in the offering for and selling of an item.Offer and sell buttons may be used instead of bid and buy buttons tooffer and sell, respectively, an item.

FIG. 3 shows a system settings screen 300 that may be presented upon atrader pressing “settings” button 241 in dialog window 200 or acorresponding function key. In order for preferred embodiments of thepresent invention to operate ideally for a trader, the trader may haveto configure at least one setting in systems settings screen 300.Systems setting screen 300 may comprise a “more settings” button 302, anitem type selection field 304, input, preference settings 306, displaypreference settings 308, an on-startup preference setting 310, an “OK”button 312, and a “Cancel” button 314.

Within the item type selection field 304, a trader may select apreferred item type by indicating a type of item to be traded. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 3, item type selection field 304indicates that the item to be traded is a 5 year U.S. Treasury bond.Other available item types, including financial instruments, bets orwagering instruments, or other tradable items, however, may be displayedand selected using a drop-down list associated with item type selectionfield 304.

Input preference settings 306 may allow a trader to enable or disablethe entry verification feature, use short codes to facilitate futurescontracts transactions (when futures contracts are a tradable item),open dialog window 200 when a single click is entered on a bid or offer,select whether an entered size is treated as a total size or anincremental size, and select whether a price is displayed in 32ndsformat or decimal format.

Display preference settings 308 may enable a trader to specify how bidsand offers are displayed. More particularly, preference settings 308 mayallow a trader to indicate whether to display a current instrument in amarket cell 100, whether to display the current instrument by name ordescription, whether to list sizes for various bids and offers in themarket cell, whether to display the net position in the market cell,whether to display scroll bars for the market cell, whether to displayexecuting orders for the instrument first in the market cell, andwhether to allow the trader to configure other display preferences bypressing “more display settings” buttons. An on-startup preferencesetting 310 may enable a trader to indicate whether trades from aprevious trading session are loaded into the trade history upon start-upof dialog window 200. Finally, an “OK” button 312 and a “Cancel” button314 may be provided to enable a trader to indicate whether to acceptrecently inputted changes or cancel the changes, respectively.

If, from systems settings screen 300, a trader presses “more settings”button 302, a second settings screen 400 may be displayed as shown inFIG. 4. As can be seen, second settings screen 400 may provide thetrader with an ability to specify, using trade preferences, whether tobuy or sell all 402 of the size of an offer or bid as displayed, or,regardless of the displayed size, to buy or sell a certainpre-designated size (Buy/Sell Partial Size 404) when clicking on asecurity in a market cell. Likewise, second settings screen 400 alsopermits the trader to specify a default size 406 for bids and offers, adefault size increment 408 for bids and offers that will be used forsize up/down button depressions, and a default price increment 410 forbids and offers that will be used for price up/down button. depressions.

Second settings screen 400 also allows the trader to specify limits toprevent accidental entry of a command for a price or size that isoutside a reasonably expected range. By selecting box 412, the tradermay enable a confirmation alert that prompts the trader forauthorization to submit a command for a size larger than the limit(previously selected by the trader or set by the system based on thetrader's previous trading history and the traded item's overall markethistory). By selecting and setting a bid/buy price limit 414 and anoffer/sell price limit 416, the trader may also specify a maximumbid/buy price and a minimum offer/sell price.

Finally, as shown in second settings screen 400, the trader may selectwhether to automatically populate a bid/offer with a last trade price ora last bid/offer price using entry verification preferences 418 and 420.

Once a trader has completed setting the preferences, a trader may submitthe preferences by pressing an “OK” button 422 or cancel the preferencesby pressing a “Cancel” button 424.

If a trader presses the “more display settings” button in displaypreferences 308 of settings screen 300 of FIG. 3, display settingsscreen 500 may appear to allow the trader to specify screen colors,window positioning, and other display functions. By selecting “ON”button 502, a trader may choose to highlight a particular field of thedialog window whenever the pointing device passes over that field. Thus,for example, when a user passes a pointer over the price field, thefield will automatically be highlighted while the system awaits userinput into that field. The trader may turn this function off by pushing“OFF” button 804.

In addition to dragging the window and placing it in a preferred area onthe screen, a user may set the default position of market cell 100 anddialog window by using pull-down menus 506 and 508. Specifically, theposition of the market cell may be selected using market cell menu 506.Menu 506 may allow a trader to drag the main trading window to anyposition on the screen and thereafter use that position as the defaultposition for the main trading window, to select a quadrant of thescreen, or to select any other desired portion of the screen. Dialogwindow menu 508 may allow the trader to select the position of thedialog window using menu options similar to those described for marketcell menu 506.

Display settings screen 500 also allows a user to select the color orother characteristic (e.g., blinking text, font size, etc.) of the bidor offer. A trader may select bid menu 510 to select a color or otherdisplay characteristic for the bid. Offer menu 512 may be selected toselect the color or other display characteristics for an offer. Similaroptions may be implemented to allow a trader to select the color andother display factors for all parameters of a trade.

Finally, “OK” button 514 and “Cancel” button 516 may be used to eitherconfirm changes or cancel the changes selected on display settingsscreen 500, respectively.

Although illustrated in a particular fashion for trading particulartypes of items, the present invention, and thus the interfaces shown inFIGS. 1-5, may be altered to facilitate trading of any type of tradableitems.

One embodiment of a main process 600 that may be used to control thepresentation of the interfaces illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 is illustratedin FIGS. 6A-6C. As shown in FIG. 6A, once process 600 has begun at step602, the process may load trading interface settings at step 604. Thesetting loaded at step 604 may include all of the settings configurablethrough screens 200, 300, 400, and 500, and any other suitable settings.Once these settings are loaded, process 600 may display a dialog window200 at step 606. Based upon the settings loaded at step 604, process 600then determines whether the item configured to be traded in dialogwindow 200 is to be displayed in a market cell. If it is, then processpresents a market cell 100 at step 610. Otherwise, or after displayingthe market cell, process 600 proceeds to step 612 where the processwaits for trader input.

Once trader input has been received at step 612, process 600 determineswhether the trader pushed settings button 241 in dialog window 200. Ifthe trader did push the settings button, then process runs a settingsprocess at step 616. An example of a settings process is shown in FIG.7. Once the settings process is completed, process 600 proceeds back tostep 612 to wait for more trader input. If process 600 determines thatthe trader did not push the settings button at step 614, however, thenprocess 600 proceeds to step 618 to determine if the trader pushed a bidbutton 212, an offer button 214, a buy button 204, or a sell button 206.If the trader did push one of these buttons, then the correspondingorder is placed at step 620. Otherwise, process 600 proceeds to step 622to determine if the trader pushed one of cancel buttons 208, 210, 216,218, 220, or 222. If so, then process 600 cancels the correspondingorders that can be canceled at step 624. Once an order has been placedat step 620, or orders have been canceled at step 624, process 600determines at step 626 whether “close on action” box 238 is checked indialog window 200. If not, process 600 loops back to step 612. Otherwiseprocess 600 closes dialog window 200 at step 628 and then proceeds tostep 612.

If, at step 622, process 600 determines that the trader did not push acancel button, however, then process 600 proceeds to step 634 as shownin FIG. 6B via link 630. At step 634, process 600 determines whether thetrader pushed a price or size up or down button 226, 228, 232, or 234.If the trader did push one of these buttons, process 600 changes theprice or size accordingly at step 636 and then loops back to step 612via link 632. Otherwise, process 600 proceeds to step 638 to determineif the trader pushed a button on keypad 202. If the trader did push oneof these buttons, then the process changes the value of either the priceor size highlighted accordingly at step 640 and then loops back to step612 via link 632. If the trader did not push one of the keypad buttons,process 600 next determines at step 642 whether the trader entered avalue in price or size field 224 or 230. If the trader did enter avalue, then process 600 changes the value in that field accordingly atstep 640 and loops back to step 612 via link 632.

If process 600 determines at step 642 that the trader did not enter avalue in one of the price or size fields, then process 600 determines atstep 644 whether the trader changed the trade type preference 236. Ifthe trader did change this preference, the trade type preference ischanged at step 646 and process 600 loops back to step 612 via link 632.Otherwise, process 600 determines at step 648 whether the trader pushedconfigure keypad button 240. If the trader did push this button, thenthe process allows the trader to drag buttons in dialog window to newlocations until the trader pushes the configure keypad button again. Thenew locations of the relocated buttons are then stored as settings fordialog window 200 that are loaded at step 602 and used to define thebutton locations each time the dialog window is opened.

If process 600 determines at step 648 that the trader did not push theconfigure keypad button, then process 600 proceeds to step 654 via link652. At step 654, process determines if the trader pushed close button242. If so, then process 600 loops back to step 628 via link 634 toclose dialog window 200. Otherwise, process 600 determines at step 656whether the trader clicked on a price 102 or 104 or size 106 or 108 inmarket cell 100. If not, process 600 loops back to step 612 via link 632to wait for more trader input.

If the trader did click on a price or size in the market cell, thenprocess 600 determines whether the entry verification feature is activeat step 658. If the entry verification feature is not active, thenprocess 600 submits a bid, offer, buy, or sell order based upon whichprice or size button was clicked, as described above, and then proceedsto step 626 via link 635. Otherwise, process 600 next determines whetherdialog window 200 is open at step 662. If the dialog window is not open,then process 600 opens a dialog window 200 at step 666. After openingdialog window 200 at step 666, or if the dialog window was determined tobe open at step 662, process 600 warps the pointer to the bid, offer,buy, or sell button based upon what was clicked in the market cell, andthen process 600 loops back to step 612 via link 632.

One embodiment of a system settings process 700 that may be used to setsystem setting as illustrated in FIGS. 3-5 is shown in FIG. 7. As can beseen, upon pressing settings button 241 (FIG. 2), process 700 willpreferably display system settings screen 300 as described in connectionwith FIGS. 3-5 at step 701. After displaying the system settings screen,process 700 awaits user input at step 702. Once user input is received,at step 703, process 700 determines whether the trader selected “moresettings” button 302. If the trader selects “more settings” button 302,process 700 displays a second settings screen at step 704, as describedin the description of FIG. 4. At step 704, the trader may then have anopportunity to adjust any setting on the second settings screen, and, atstep 705, process 700 determines whether the trader pressed “OK” button422 or “Cancel” button 424. If process 700 determines that the traderselected “Cancel” button 424, any changes made by the trader in thesecond settings screen will be ignored at step 706. If, however, thetrader selected “OK” button 422, process 600 will proceed to step 707and apply any changes made by the trader in the second settings screen.

If, at step 703, the trader was determined to not have chosen the “moresettings” button, or after the completion of either step 706 or step707, process 700 branches to step 708. At step 708, process 700determines whether the trader selected the “more display settings”button from screen 300. If so, then process 700 displays displaysettings screen 500 at step 709. Next, at step 710, process 700determines whether the trader selected “OK” button 514 or “Cancel”button 516 within display settings screen 500. If the trader pressed“Cancel” button 516, process 700 cancels any display settings changes atstep 711. If the trader pressed “OK” button 514, process 700 applies anydisplay settings changes at step 712.

After completing step 711 or 712, or if process 600 determines that the“more display settings” button was not selected at step 708, process 700determines whether the trader selected “OK” button 312 or “Cancel”button 314 at step 713. If neither “OK” button 312 or “Cancel” button314 was selected, process 700 loops back to step 702 where the processwill once again await user input. If the trader selected “Cancel” button314, however, process 700 will proceed to step 614 and cancel allchanges made at the system settings screen. Hitting “Cancel” button 314,however, preferably will not cancel changes that the trader may havemade in the second setting screen displayed at step 704 or in thedisplay settings screen display at step 709. If the trader, selected“OK” button 312, process 700 will proceed to step 715. Step 715 acceptsand applies any changes made in the system settings screen. Aftercompleting step 714 or 714, process 700 terminates.

In accordance with the present invention, a data window may be used inaddition to or instead of market cell 100 to initiate or submit ordercommands via dialog window 200. The Data window may be any window fordisplaying data on tradable items. For example, a data window may be amarket data display, a web page including financial data or auctioninformation, a spread sheet, etc. As another example, as shown in FIG.8, a data window 800 may be used for this purpose. Data window 800 is aBond Analysis window that is part of the Reuters 3000 Xtra product thatis available from Reuters Limited. Within data window 800 is a field 802that contains information on various bonds 804-816. By clicking on anyof bonds 804-816, a trader can cause a bid order command to be submittedvia dialog window 200.

An example of an order entry process 900 for enabling the submitting oforder commands via dialog window 200 and a data window is shown in FIG.9. Through this process, an entry window that is either a replica of thedata entry window or the data window itself is used to detect when atrader selects an item within the data window. As illustrated, afterprocess 900 has begun at step 902, this process loads settings for anentry window at step 904. Next, based upon the settings loaded, process900 determines at step 906 whether to replicate a data window for theentry window or to use the data window itself as the entry window. Ifthe data window is to be replicated for the entry window, then process900 proceeds to step 916 at which the data window is replicated as theentry window. Although replication of the data window is illustrated aspart of process 900, replication may be performed using an automatedprocess or may be performed in conjunction with manual copying of thedata window.

Next, at step 918, process 900 monitors data that is being sent to thedata window and populates fields within the entry window with that data.Through steps 916 and 918, the entry window preferably appears identicalto the data window. Alternatively, the entry window may be differentfrom the data window and use the data window data. Following step 918,process 900 determines at step 920 whether a trader clicked on a fieldin entry window. As part of the replication of the data window, theentry window is preferably constructed to facilitate detection of clickson various fields within the entry window. If the trader did click on afield in the entry window, the click and corresponding data in the entrywindow are sent to dialog window 200 as a substitute for a click on aprice or size in market cell 100 at step 922. The click andcorresponding data are preferably detected by main process 600 at step656 and appear to process 600 like a click on a price or size in amarket cell. Because the trader may click on a variety of items in theentry window, the data accompanying the click may be used by process 600to select another tradable item prior to submitting a bid, offer, buy,or sell command. If no click is detected at step 920, or after the clickand data have sent to main process 600 at step 922, process 900 loopsback to step 918.

If, at step 906, process 900 determines that the data window is not tobe replicated, then process 900 displays the data window and uses thedata window as the entry window. Because the data window may not be aninteractive window, process 900 may monitor the mouse position andclicks at step 910 to determine whether the trader is trying to click onan element in the data window as the entry window. Next, at step 912,process 900 determines whether the trader clicked on a monitored fieldin the entry window. If the trader did click on a monitored field,process 900, at step 914, strips the data from the monitored field,substitutes the click and stripped data for a click on a price or sizein the market cell, and sends that click and data to main process 600.The data may be stripped by monitoring the data being fed to the datawindow, by scanning video memory corresponding to the field of the datawindow clicked on, or using any other suitable process. The click andstripped data are preferably detected by main process 600 at step 656and appear to process 600 like a click on a price or size in a marketcell. Because the trader may click on a variety of items in the entrywindow, the data accompanying the click may be used by process 600 toselect another tradable item prior to submitting a bid, offer, buy, orsell command. If no click is detected at step 912, or after the clickand data have sent to main process 600 at step 914, process 900 loopsback to step 910.

One example of a system 1000 for implementing the present invention isshown in FIG. 10. As illustrated, system 1000 may include one or morecomputers 1001, including a mouse 1006, that are connected by one ormore communication links 1002 to a computer network 1003 that is linkedvia a communication link 1005 to a trading server 1004.

In system 1000, trading server 1004 may be any suitable server,processor, computer, or data processing device, or combination of thesame. Computer network 1003 may be any suitable computer networkincluding the Internet, an Intranet, a wide-area network (WAN), alocal-area network (LAN), a wireless network, a digital subscriber line(DSL) network, a frame relay network, an asynchronous transfer mode(ATM) network, a virtual private network (VPN), or any combination ofany of the same. Communication links 1002 and 1005 may be any suitablecommunication links suitable for communicating data between computers1001 and server 1004, such as network links, dial-up links, wirelesslinks, hard-wired links, etc. User computers 1001 may be any suitablecomputers, processors, computer terminals, displays, portable computers,personal digital assistants, or any other suitable data processingdevices, or combinations of the same.

It should be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that thepresent invention may be practiced in embodiments other than thoseillustrated herein without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention, and that the invention is only limited by the claimswhich follow.

1-36. (canceled)
 37. A method, comprising: displaying, by a processor ofa computing device, an interface, the interface comprising: a buybutton, in which the buy button, when selected causes a buy command tobe submitted; a sell button, in which the sell button, when selectedcauses a sell command to be submitted; a price field, in which a pricedisplayed in the price field is adjustable; a size field, in which asize displayed in the size field is adjustable, and in which the priceand the size are associated with trading an item; a price up button anda price down button, in which the price up button when selected adjuststhe price displayed in the price field and in which the price downbutton when selected adjusts the price displayed in the price field; asize up button and a size down button, in which the size up button whenselected adjusts the size displayed in the size field and in which thesize down button when selected adjusts the price displayed in the pricefield; and at least one of: a button for a number 1; a button for anumber 5; a button for a number 10; and a button for a number 100;  andperforming at least one of: in response to a selection of the buy buttonat the interface, submitting, by the processor, the buy command to anelectronic trade system for execution; and in response to a selection ofthe sell button at the interface, submitting, by the processor, the sellcommand to the electronic trade system for execution.
 38. The method ofclaim 37, in which displaying the interface comprises: causing, by theprocessor, the interface to be displayed at a remote device that isconnected to the computing device via a network.
 39. The method of claim37, further comprising: displaying, by the processor, another interface,the another interface comprising: a bid price for the item; and an offerprice for the item.
 40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:receiving input indicative of a selection of at least one of the bidprice and the offer price.
 41. The method of claim 39, furthercomprising: automatically populating, by the processor, the price fieldwith at least one of the bid price and the offer price.
 42. The methodof claim 37, further comprising: automatically populating, by theprocessor, the size field with a default size of the item.
 43. Themethod of claim 42, further comprising: automatically highlighting, bythe processor, the default size of the item in the size field.
 44. Themethod of claim 37, in which the interface further comprises: a tradepreference indicator.
 45. The method of claim 44, in which when thetrade preference indicator is selected, a limit trade type is selected.46. The method of claim 44, in which when the trade preference indicatoris selected, a good until trade type is selected.
 47. The method ofclaim 37, further comprising: in response to a selection of at least oneof the price up button and the price down button at the secondinterface, displaying, by the processor, an adjusted price in the pricefield.
 48. The method of claim 37, further comprising: in response to aselection of at least one of the size up button and the size down buttonat the second interface, displaying, by the processor, an adjusted sizein the size field.
 49. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and amemory, the memory storing computer readable code that, when executed bythe processor, causes the processor to: display an interface, theinterface comprising: a buy button, in which the buy button, whenselected causes a buy command to be submitted; a sell button, in whichthe sell button, when selected causes a sell command to be submitted; aprice field, in which a price displayed in the price field isadjustable; a size field, in which a size displayed in the size field isadjustable, and in which the price and the size are associated withtrading an item; a price up button and a price down button, in which theprice up button when selected adjusts the price displayed in the pricefield and in which the price down button when selected adjusts the pricedisplayed in the price field; a size up button and a size down button,in which the size up button when selected adjusts the size displayed inthe size field and in which the size down button when selected adjuststhe price displayed in the price field; and at least one of: a buttonfor a number 1; a button for a number 5; a button for a number 10; and abutton for a number 100; °and perform at least one of: in response to aselection of the buy button at the interface, submitting the buy commandto an electronic trade system for execution; and in response to aselection of the sell button at the interface, submitting the sellcommand to the electronic trade system for execution.
 50. A method,comprising: displaying, by a processor of a computing device, aninterface, the interface comprising: a first button, in which the firstbutton, when selected causes a trading command to be submitted; a sizefield, in which a size displayed in the size field is adjustable, and inwhich the size is associated with trading an item; at least one of: abutton for a number 1; a button for a number 5; a button for a number10; a button for a number 50; and a button for a number 100;  and asecond button, in which the second button, when selected causes one ormore trading commands to no longer be valid;  and in response to aselection of the first button at the interface, submitting, by theprocessor, the trading command to an electronic trade system forexecution.
 51. The method of claim 50, in which displaying the interfacecomprises: causing, by the processor, the interface to be displayed at aremote device that is connected to the computing device via a network.52. The method of claim 50, further comprising: displaying, by theprocessor, another interface, the another interface comprising: a bidprice for the item; and an offer price for the item.
 53. The method ofclaim 52, further comprising: receiving input indicative of a selectionof at least one of the bid price and the offer price at the anotherinterface.
 54. The method of claim 53, in which displaying the interfacecomprises: displaying, by the processor, the interface in response tothe input.
 55. The method of claim 52, further comprising: automaticallypopulating, by the processor, the price field with at least one of thebid price and the offer price.
 56. The method of claim 50, furthercomprising: automatically populating, by the processor, the size fieldwith a default size of the item.
 57. The method of claim 56, furthercomprising: automatically highlighting, by the processor, the defaultsize of the item in the size field.
 58. The method of claim 50, in whichthe interface further comprises: a trade preference indicator.
 59. Themethod of claim 58, in which when the trade preference indicator isselected, a limit trade type is selected.
 60. The method of claim 50, inwhich the second button, when selected causes one or more trading ordersto be cancelled from the electronic trading system.
 61. The method ofclaim 50, in which the second button comprises a cancel button.
 62. Themethod of claim 61, in which the second button comprises at least one ofa cancel buys button, a cancel sells button, a cancel bids button, and acancel offers button.
 63. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and amemory, the memory storing computer readable code that, when executed bythe processor, causes the processor to: display an interface, theinterface comprising: a first button, in which the first button, whenselected causes a trading command to be submitted; a size field, inwhich a size displayed in the size field is adjustable, and in which thesize is associated with trading an item; at least one of: a button for anumber 1; a button for a number 5; a button for a number 10; a buttonfor a number 50; and a button for a number 100;  and a second button, inwhich the second button, when selected causes one or more tradingcommands to no longer be valid;  and in response to a selection of thefirst button at the interface, submit the trading command to anelectronic trade system for execution.